Down the long table

by Earle Birney

A novel as realistic as it is satiric, Earle Birney's Down the Long Table presents an enduring procession of political and human characters from two separate eras of social and political upheaval. The hero is Gordon Saunders, a Canadian professor at a U.S. college during the McCarthy years, who is found to have a past in Depression-era Canada that was peopled with Stalinists, Trotskyites, socialists, agitators and malcontents of every cast and hue, from casual pink to radical Red. As a Congressional investigative storm ranges around him, he reflects on his rose-tinted past. In the midst of social satire and social comment, Earle Birney has created a truly original fictional character - a classic humanitarian innocent, abroad in a brutal political world where everyone's playing for keeps.

Genres: Fiction

298 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Earle Alfred Birney was a distinguished Canadian poet and novelist, who twice won the Governor General's Award, Canada's top literary honor, for his poetry.

Reviews

[Paul Gaya Ochieng Simeon Juma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great novel! Not popular but very informative. So many virtues to learn from it. The authror, through his main character has taught us some very important lessons. The main one being that virtue does not derive from self-sacrifice demanded by some party, or state, or from the church of some ludicrous god. It does not proceed from the people. In exchange for our reason and freedom they may give us a certificate of virtue, even some power, but this is worthless. It is less than worthless-it is bondage. The author taught me that when my power comes from others, on approval, I am their slave.

He taught me to never sacrifice myself-never! Whoever urges me to self-sacrifice is worse than a common murderer, who at least cuts my throat himself, without persuading me to do it. We must, therefore revere ourselves. To revere ourselves is to live truly. And as we know only too well, to live truly is to live at war. At war- with the people and the party and the guilt-peddling Jesus industry.